Kijin Gentoushou

After Jinta and Suzune ran away from their home as children, they were taken in by Motoharu—the virtuous sentinel of Kadono Village—and his daughter, Shirayuki. The settlement was ruled by its shrine maiden, Itsukihime, whom only a select few were allowed to interact with. When Itsukihime passed away, Shirayuki was appointed in her place. Wishing to stay in contact with her, Jinta worked diligently for years and was finally selected as the next sentinel.

As the protector of the village, Jinta's duty is to eliminate any threats. One day, he encounters a demon in a nearby forest. At the end of the battle, the demon makes a proclamation about the destined ruler of all demonkind. He attaches his severed arm to Jinta, turning him into an unaging demon man. By the time Jinta comes to, Kadono is on fire. Suzune has transformed into the demon from the divination, and due to a series of misunderstandings, she murders Shirayuki and flees.

Devastated, Jinta cannot forgive Suzune for her actions; he departs on a journey to find her. As Jinta travels around Japan across the eras, he endeavors to protect as many people as possible from aggressive demons. In his quiet moments, he contemplates what he should do when he once again faces his childhood friend.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Jinta Main

Yashiro, Taku Japanese

Suzune Main

Ueda, Reina Japanese

Shirayuki Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Ofuu Supporting

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Natsu Supporting

Aizawa, Saya Japanese

Clairvoyant Demon Supporting

Kondou, Yui Japanese

Mosuke Supporting

Kameyama, Yuuji Japanese

Hatsu Supporting

Terasaki, Yuka Japanese

Kihee Owner Supporting

Ueda, Youji Japanese

Akitsu, Somegorou Supporting

Yusa, Kouji Japanese

Aoi, Hiroyuki Producer

Kaneko, Hirotaka Producer

Hashirayama, Taisuke Producer

Ogasawara, Yuki Producer

Reviews

Apr 16, 2025

CJustawaye

Recommended

Preliminary (3/? eps)

This anime surprised me. I loved the setting of the story and the characters feel like they truly belong in this world, taking the narrative seriously.

The animation was also great, I didn't expect much from the studio, but they did a pretty good job. The art style is pretty good too and I like that the makers clearly put effort into making this show.

While the story isn't particularly unique and it doesn't feel like they're trying to be, it's enjoyable enough with some really good emotional beats.

The opening was okay, but there are spoilers in it so watch out for those. looking forward to ... seeing where this story ends up.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 18, 2025

ninjaaw14

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (12/? eps)

There is a good story underneath this show. But the good story I refer to is the source rather than this adaptation. Often with anime adaptations, disappointment and criticisms center around art, animation quality, and occasionally when important scenes are cut. The art here is quite nice, the animation is serviceable, and the adaptation is mostly faithful. So what went wrong?

First there are some blatantly obvious failures in direction and art direction, where characters will look past each other due to incorrect angles, and the anime will linger on the laughable image for 15 seconds so that the animation work can be limited to mouth ... flaps.

But that’s just one example that goes to show that the anime simply takes no advantage of the animation medium, and it has really significant effects on the story. The novels are jam packed with descriptive language from Jinya’s point of view, giving far more characterization information than can be expected in manga or anime. The manga makes up for the lack of walls of text in a huge way. It has some of the most expressive designs and paneling decisions that subtly portray what is on the characters’ minds, especially for the stoic Jinya. The anime lacks all of that.

The significance of this change in approach was evident from the first episode. Did you know that when Jinya confesses his love, he does so sincerely? With an embarrassed and childlike face spilling out from his weary and stoic facade? When Kiyomasa confronts Jinya, breaking down when realizing how screwed up Jinya is in stubbornly refusing his own happiness with Shirayuki, Jinya acknowledges it with a defeated chuckle, knowing how strange the path he walks is while nevertheless continuing to walk it. The paneling was not that of a static wide shot where the characters could barely be seen.

I don’t know if I’ve come across another story where small changes like this so heavily damage a character. You want a stoic cool guy as a lead, where emotional payoffs come from beautiful and poetic events that get him to crack a smile and live life? Could it be any more paramount that the art properly conveys the emotions of this character?

The manga truly nails this, elevating a story with a relatively weak plot and small world to incredible heights. The anime doesn’t even try.

Kijin Gentosho
5 out of 10

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jul 2, 2025

TangyAbleOrange

Not Recommended

Preliminary (3/? eps)

After seeing the first episode, I was fairly unimpressed. It was just dull. I didn't bother to continue with it, so take my impressions with a tub of salt. The show had a significant problem with character development I didn't see improving in subsequent episodes given it had an hour with little to show for it. Much of the character decisions and behaviors are superficial and contrived, making the plot nonsensical at times but mostly boring the rest of the time. Ironically, the two demons introduced last were the most relatable and interesting, but they both died. The protagonists were just good for the sake ... of being good, which was boring. I imagine the main character gets marginally more interesting given he has conflict in wanting revenge, but since it's based on his original blank-slate motive I doubt it'd be very engaging. And that the inciting incident for the plot is based around the trope of not communicating is... ugh. The show taking so long and the main characters having such little depth and subsequently having little-to-no relatability were essentially what led me to drop this. As for the animation quality and soundtrack, I was too disinterested to notice whether either were good or not.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	High hopes Avamarie316 - Jul 7	16 replies	by ejleon »» 17 minutes ago
	So how old (Physically) is our protagonist? thewiru - May 5	15 replies	by BlueMoonTornado »» Today, 3:14 AM
	Poll: Kijin Gentoushou Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 ) KANLen09 - Jun 23	53 replies	by Szabesz »» Yesterday, 1:45 AM
	Poll: Kijin Gentoushou Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Apr 7	107 replies	by zodemacom »» Jul 5, 10:49 PM
	To clear things up about episode 13 Szabesz - Jun 26	37 replies	by Hermiyas »» Jul 3, 7:16 AM